Shapiro Signs $50.8 Billion Pennsylvania Budget After Two-Week Delay

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed a $50.8 billion state budget on July 12, 2026, roughly 12 days after the June 30 constitutional deadline, following weeks of closed-door negotiations between his administration and a divided legislature. The budget passed the Senate 47-3 and the House 167-35, reflecting broad bipartisan support despite some opposition in both parties. This marked the fourth consecutive year Shapiro reached a budget agreement with a split legislature, and represented a significant improvement over the prior year's nearly five-month budget impasse. The agreement avoided any tax increases and did not draw from the state's Rainy Day Fund, leaving approximately $8 billion in reserve. Senate Republican leaders said the final deal cut more than $1.1 billion from Shapiro's original spending request. The budget included over $565 million in new school adequacy funding, part of a broader effort to address a $4.5 billion funding gap identified after a 2023 Commonwealth Court ruling, with $1.9 billion directed toward closing that gap and $136 million in additional funds for the School District of Philadelphia. It also included new transparency requirements for data centers, publicly funded housing projects, and public transit agencies, along with $7 million to replace SNAP benefit cards with chip-enabled versions. Public transit funding relied on a prior two-year stopgap rather than a permanent solution. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman criticized the overall spending level as too high, calling the result an "imperfectly good budget," while Democratic House Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris praised the agreement. Unresolved priorities left out of the deal included a minimum wage increase, long-term transit funding, affordable housing initiatives, and marijuana legalization. Republicans agreed to increase education spending without restructuring the underlying school funding formulas, an outcome that remains a point of ongoing debate. No further legislative action beyond the governor's signature has been reported.